Lobby Activities

By George F. Smalley

For Arabs:

Two non-Arab American groups took the lead recently in organizing a weekend training program for a diverse group of activists who share a common desire to bring peace to the Middle East through the creation of an independent state for the Palestinians.

The principal sponsors, the American Friends Service Committee and Mobilization for Survival, said the four-day program was "specifically designed for peace, religious, political and community activists" who wanted to work collectively for a U.S. policy which would "respect the right of the Palestinian people to establish their own state." Program planners also emphasized the need for a decrease in American arms sales to the Middle East. The meeting was held February 15 to 18 at a retreat near Hackettstown, New Jersey, and approximately 120 persons took part, representing such groups as Clergy and Laity Concerned, Fellowship for Reconciliation, New Jewish Agenda, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the War Resister's League. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) and the Association of Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG) also sent representatives.

Participants said numerous workshops and discussions were held to exchange information on effective ways of organizing within their own particular religious and political constituencies. Gail Pressberg of the American Friends Service Committee, Osama Doumani of ADC, and James Zogby, former executive director of ADC, were among those who offered guidelines on community organizing. Other sessions focused on how to build networks with other concerned organizations and bow to deal with the media, members of Congress, and others who influence U.S. policy.

For Israel:

Americans For a Safe Israel (AFSI), a small but active organization which frequently criticized the American TV networks' coverage of Israel's war in Lebanon, has turned its attention to Capitol Hill and found that conservative members of Congress are not, in its view, being adequately informed about Israel. To help fill the gap, AFSI is preparing to open a new office in Washington, in addition to its headquarters in New York, with the apparent goal of becoming a new, conservative pro-Israel lobby.

AFSI director Peter E. Goldman said in a statement that discussions he has held with conservative congressmen, including Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Steven Symms (R-ID), showed him that needed information was not being provided by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the dominant pro-Israel lobby. Mr. Goldman said that many Senate aides told him that "the information and viewpoints they were hearing from us were new and refreshing" and that there were complaints AIPAC "favored Democrats over conservative Republicans, and that there was great need for a new source of information on Israel for conservatives on the Hill."

The views Mr. Goldman and the AFSI espouse are contained in a 41-page report, "Towards a New American Middle East Policy," that was written by Mr. Goldman. In the report, Mr. Goldman rejects President Reagan's peace plan of September, 1982, in which it is stated that permanent peace in the Middle East is not achievable "on the basis of Israeli sovereignty or permanent control over the West Bank and Gaza." Mr. Goldman argues that Israel must retain the West Bank as a matter of "strategic necessity."

AFSI's attempt to link up with Jesse Helms and other "New Right" congressmen is at odds with the efforts of many American Jews to try to unseat them because of their outspoken support for school prayer, for example, which numerous Jewish groups view as a threat to the Constitutional separation of church and state. A major campaign was launched by pro-Israel political action committees last year to defeat Senator Helms because he also was viewed as unfriendly to Israel.

But apparently AFSI does not share that view. In a batch of press clippings it sent to members of Congress in early February was one from Israel Today headlined "An Israeli Conservative Views Helms as Positive on Jerusalem and Judea." Michael Kleiner, who is described in the article as a leader of Israel's "New Right" and a former member of parliament from the Herut party, says that Senator Helms has consistently voted against U.S. aid to Israel only because it is part of the overall foreign aid program, which the Senator opposes. Mr. Kleiner said, however, that Senator Helms would support doubling the amount of assistance Israel currently receives from the U.S. if the money were to come out of the U.S.'s own defense budget.

Although AFSI's membership of 6,500 is small compared to AIPAC and other organizations, it nonetheless has succeeded in attracting much publicity since 1982 to its charge that NBC's coverage of Israel's war in Lebanon was unfair. AFSI made its own 57-minute film documenting alleged distortions of NBC's reporting and has filed petitions with the Federal Communications Commission to try to prevent at least 15 NBC affiliate stations from having their broadcast licenses renewed.

George F. Smalley is managing editor of The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.